The head of ISIS in the Greater Sahara, who was wanted for deadly attacks on US soldiers and foreign aid workers, has been killed in an operation by French troops.
Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi was "neutralized by French forces", President Emmanuel Macron tweeted early Thursday.
"This is another major success in our fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel," Macron said, without giving the location or details of the operation.
The militant leader was behind the killing of French aid workers in 2020 and was also wanted by the United States over a deadly 2017 attack on US troops in Niger.
ISIS in the Greater Sahara is blamed for most of the extremist attacks in the Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso region.
The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information on the whereabouts of Sahrawi, who was wanted over an October 4, 2017 attack in Niger that killed four US Special Forces and four Niger troops.
On August 9, 2020, in Niger, the group’s head personally ordered the killing of six French aid workers and their Niger guides and drivers.
Sahrawi was formerly a member of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and also co-led Mujao, a Malian group responsible for kidnapping Spanish aid workers in Algeria and a group of Algerian diplomats in Mali in 2012.
